W Wiebe Wagemans

A two-site bipolaron model for organic magnetoresistance

The recently proposed bipolaron model for large “organic magnetoresistance” (OMAR) at room temperature is extended to an analytically solvable two-site scheme. It is shown that even this extremely simplified approach reproduces some of the key features of OMAR, viz., the possibility to have both positive and negative magnetoresistance, as well as its universal line shapes. Specific behavior and limiting cases are discussed. Extensions of the model, to guide future experiments and numerical Monte Carlo studies, are suggested.

Correspondence of the sign change in organic magnetoresistance with the onset of bipolar charge transport

In this work we examine the transition between positive and negative organic magnetoresistance in poly[2-methoxy-5-(3′, 7′-dimethyloctyloxy)-p-phenylenevinylene] in order to understand how different regimes of charge transport affect the organic magnetoresistance effect. To characterize the charge transport in these devices we measured the current, low frequency differential capacitance, and electroluminescence efficiency as a function of voltage. These measurements show that the sign change of the magnetoresistance corresponds with a change from a unipolar diffusive transport below the built in voltage (Vbi) to a regime of bipolar drift transport above Vbi.

Detailed study of the plasma-activated catalytic generation of ammonia in N2-H2 plasmas

We investigated the efficiency and formation mechanism of ammonia generation in recombining plasmas generated from mixtures of N2 and H2 under various plasma conditions. In contrast to the Haber-Bosch process, in which the molecules are dissociated on a catalytic surface, under these plasma conditions the precursor molecules, N2 and H2, are already dissociated in the gas phase. Surfaces are thus exposed to large fluxes of atomic N and H radicals. The ammonia production turns out to be strongly dependent on the fluxes of atomic N and H radicals to the surface. By optimizing the atomic N and H fluxes to the surface using an atomic nitrogen and hydrogen source ammonia can be formed efficiently, i.e., more than 10% of the total background pressure is measured to be ammonia. The results obtained show a strong similarity with results reported in literature, which were explained by the production of ammonia at the surface by stepwise addition reactions between adsorbed nitrogen and hydrogen containing radicals a...

Temperature dependent sign change of the organic magnetoresistance effect

A sign change of the organic magnetoresistance effect is observed as a function of temperature. There is a large difference in the IV behavior when the sign of the magnetoresistance (MR) is positive compared to when the sign of the MR is negative, pointing to the possibility that the sign change of the MR is due to a change in the charge transport mechanism. The positive and negative MRs show different characteristic field widths B0 in the MR versus magnetic field curves. Also, the traces with positive MR show a clear temperature dependence of B0 while no systematic dependence on temperature is seen in the traces with negative MR. This behavior can be qualitatively explained by the recently proposed bipolaron model.

Frequency dependence of organic magnetoresistance

To identify the microscopic mechanisms of organic magnetoresistance (OMAR), the dependency on the frequency of the applied magnetic field is explored, which consists of a dc and ac component. The measured magnetoconductance decreases when the frequency is increased. The decrease is stronger for lower voltages, which is shown to be linked to the presence of a negative capacitance, as measured with admittance spectroscopy. The negative capacitance disappears when the frequency becomes comparable to the inverse transit time of the minority carriers. These results are in agreement with recent interpretations that magnetic field effects on minority carrier mobility dominate OMAR.

Spin in organics: a new route to spintronics

New developments in the nascent field of organic spintronics are discussed. Two classes of phenomena can be discerned. In hybrid organic spin valves (OSVs), an organic semiconducting film is sandwiched between two ferromagnetic (FM) thin films, aiming at magnetoresistive effects as a function of the relative alignment of the respective magnetization directions. Alternatively, organic magnetoresistance (OMAR) is achieved without any FM components, and is an intrinsic property of the organic semiconductor material. Some of the exciting characteristics of OMAR, in both electrical conductance and photoconductance, are presented. A systematic, combined experimental–theoretical study of sign changes between positive and negative magnetoresistance is shown to provide important insight about the underlying mechanisms of OMAR. A simple explanation of experimental observations is obtained by combining a ‘spin-blocking’ mechanism, an essential ingredient in the recently proposed bipolaron model, with specific features of the device physics of space charge limited current devices in the bipolar regime. Finally, we discuss possible links between the physics relevant for OMAR and that for OSVs. More specifically, weak hyperfine fields from the hydrogen atoms in organic materials are thought to be crucial for a proper understanding of both types of phenomena.